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The Palestinian death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza has surpassed 74,000, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. While this figure represents the official death toll as confirmed by local authorities, the true number could be much higher when missing people and indirect deaths are taken into account, such as from disease, exposure, denial of medical treatment and the destruction of civic infrastructure. And since the so-called ceasefire brokered by Trump last October, nearly 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks.

“The [ceasefire] plan ended up just buying more time for the genocide,” says Muhammad Shehada, a writer and analyst from Gaza speaking to Democracy Now! in Copenhagen. “Instead of suspending attacks on Gaza, Israel has been bombing Gaza every day.”

“The idea of the plan was to divide the reconstruction, rehabilitation, Israeli withdrawal, decommissioning of Hamas and Palestinian statehood into three phases,” says Shehada. “So far, only one item of the 20 items on the Trump plan has been fulfilled, and that is the release of every single Israeli hostage in Gaza.”

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman. We are broadcasting from Copenhagen, Denmark.

Gazans Feel Despair as Israeli Officials Cement Plans for Permanent Occupation

The Palestinian death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza has surpassed 74,000. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israeli attacks since the so-called ceasefire last October have killed more than 1,100 Palestinians. Gaza’s Government Media Office puts the toll even higher at more than 1,400. On Sunday, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on downtown Gaza City. Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, settler violence has killed at least 1,107 Palestinians since October 7, 2023.

On Monday, a senior U.N. official condemned what he called “the relentless expansion of Israeli settlements” in the occupied West Bank. This is U.N. Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Ramiz Alakbarov addressing the U.N. Security Council.

RAMIZ ALAKBAROV: I strongly condemn the relentless expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which fuels tensions, impedes access by Palestinians to their land and threatens the validity, viability of a fully independent, sovereign and contiguous Palestinian state. The rapidly expanding settlement footprint, including outposts, is taking place in conjunction with the rise in settler attacks.

RAMIZ ALAKBAROV: I strongly condemn the relentless expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which fuels tensions, impedes access by Palestinians to their land and threatens the validity, viability of a fully independent, sovereign and contiguous Palestinian state. The rapidly expanding settlement footprint, including outposts, is taking place in conjunction with the rise in settler attacks.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Democracy Now! is broadcasting from Denmark, which recently joined 20 other countries, as well as the European Commission, in signing a declaration opposing Israel’s planned settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. Denmark, along with 11 other countries, is also backing sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. On Monday, Denmark’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Christina Markus Lassen, addressed the U.N. General Assembly.

CHRISTINA MARKUS LASSEN: In Gaza, civilians continue to pay the price. Far more must be done to secure humanitarian access and long-term peace. And in the occupied West Bank, settler violence and settlement expansion threaten the daily lives of Palestinians and undermine the prospects for a future Palestinian state. This has to stop.

CHRISTINA MARKUS LASSEN: In Gaza, civilians continue to pay the price. Far more must be done to secure humanitarian access and long-term peace. And in the occupied West Bank, settler violence and settlement expansion threaten the daily lives of Palestinians and undermine the prospects for a future Palestinian state. This has to stop.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Denmark’s ambassador to the United Nations, Christina Markus Lassen.

For more, we’re joined here in Copenhagen by Muhammad Shehada, writer and analyst from Gaza, visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Muhammad Shehada, welcome back to Democracy Now! It’s wonderful to be here with you in the studio in Copenhagen. We’re usually interviewing you by Zoom. These are extremely harrowing times. It’s been almost a year since the Trump plan for Gaza was created, October 9, 2025. Can you explain what that plan is and what has been fulfilled so far?

MUHAMMAD SHEHADA: Thanks so much, Amy. Great to finally see you in person, one of my favorite heroes.

So, the idea of the plan was to divide the reconstruction, rehabilitation, Israeli withdrawal, decommissioning of Hamas, and Palestinian statehood into three phases. The first one was related to early recovery, so it would see Israel suspending its attacks, allowing 600 trucks per day of food and humanitarian aid into Gaza, rehabilitating basic infrastructure — water, electricity, hospitals, roads, sanitation — and basically opening up the Rafah border crossing for people to be able to travel in and out. The second phase was the one that relates to Hamas decommissioning and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as well as the reconstruction, the rebuilding of the enclave. And the third one is the long-term one that relates to Palestinian statehood.

So far, only one item of the 20 items on........

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